Challenge:
As automation becomes more widespread across many industries, predicting and fine-tuning complex machine behavior is increasingly critical for optimizing performance. International engineering software provider Digital Product Simulation (DPS) was looking to develop a methodology for simulating the interaction of electronic controls with factory hardware.
Solution:
The combined strengths of Abaqus’ physical modeling and CATIA Systems’ logical modeling helped DPS “co-simulate” the behavior of a gantry robot in a feedback loop of data exchange.
Benefits:
Co-simulation provided DPS with a realistic model of machine behavior that has great potential for use with other large-scale, complex industrial systems.
Automation may be increasingly replacing human labor in many industries, but not even robots can avoid the laws of physics. A robotic gantry crane starts, runs and stops along precisely defined X, Y, and Z coordinate paths, yet the effects of inertia, acceleration, vibration and/or oscillation can still result in performance that is less than ideal.
Simulating this kind of complexity was the aim of a collaboration between global CAD/CAE provider Digital Product Simulation (DPS) and the French mechanical engineering school Supmeca. The school participates in PLACIS (“Collaborative Platform for Systems Engineering”), which is funded by the French National Agency for Research. The PLACIS program supports international Masters of engineering students, teaching systems engineering through a project-based learning approach that often involves industry partners such as DPS.
Christophe Baroux graduated from Supmeca a decade ago and is now technical sales manager for DPS North America. He coordinated a recent academic/industry PLACIS project between DPS and Supmeca and reported the student/engineer team’s findings at Dassault Systèmes’ inaugural “Science in the Age of Experience 2016” event in Boston.
The team’s choice of a gantry crane to demonstrate co-simulation between Dassault Systèmes’ Abaqus and CATIA Systems tools was a good one, Baroux feels. “Co-simulation is a very exciting topic, but still a niche subject with not many applications in the real world yet,” he says. “Gantry robots are used widely in industrial settings, so we felt our example might be of interest to engineers who are interested in optimizing the performance of complex systems in a number of different fields.”
Watch this interview with Christophe Baroux, Tech. Sales Manager for DPS North America
Want to learn more?
Discover how DPS uses realistic simulation to design gantry robots.
